ANOTHER POTENTIAL FIXTURE nightmare for ladies dual players in Cork has thankfully been avoided.
Both the Rebel footballers and camogie sides were down to play on Saturday 23 June, but the Camogie Association have moved the All-Ireland holders’ championship meeting with Dublin to Sunday 24 June.
The footballers’ Munster senior final against Kerry remains on Saturday 23 June.
Hannah Looney and Libby Coppinger are the two dual players affected but luckily now, they don’t face togging out for two inter-county fixtures in one day — or making a big decision.
The duo were part of Paudie Murray’s charges that beat Kilkenny to the O’Duffy Cup in September, while they’re both forwards for Ephie Fitzgerald’s footballers.
The second-round camogie championship match against the Sky Blues is expected to take place at Páirc Uí Rinn, while a venue for the Munster football final on the Saturday is yet to be confirmed.
With the men’s senior (Cork v Kerry, 7pm) and minor (Kerry v Clare, 5pm) deciders in Páirc Uí Chaoimh that same day, a triple-header has been ruled out.
It was then hoped that Páirc Uí Rinn would host the game that afternoon to allow Cork and Kerry fans to take in both their male and female senior teams in action.
But that venue will be used by staff and umpires working at the Munster senior and minor finals, as well as underage players participating in the half-time games.
Dual clashes have come to light several times over the past few years in ladies football and camogie, with Rena Buckley and Briege Corkery among those affected.
Coppinger was caught up in one such controversy last August when no alternative arrangements were made, meaning she was released to focus solely on the small ball game that day.
And both Coppinger and Looney were involved in another clash in March with UCC ladies football and the Cork camogie side, with both forced to make individual decisions.
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Great piece Niall, but there are a couple of other points here.
If, for example, Kenny Egan was to travel to Baku, he could qualify for the Olympics, and would do so in the same weight division as Joe Ward. As a country can only enter one fighter in any weight class, as far as I’m aware, Ward could then not even compete in Istanbul and his Olympic dreams would be dashed, even though he is European Champion. This is the same for any of our ‘stars’ who miss out.
Also, if IABA were to send Ward and Moylette, the European champions would be seeded and thus get an easier draw. If they send other boxers in the same weight classes, that seeding is lost.
Thanks for the comments Gavin.
I see Kenny has declared that he’s stepping up to Heavyweight for this week’s competition, which was presumably decided in order to avoid the clash with Ward that you mentioned. It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out over the next week.